Studying with Liz

As mentioned last week, I have been studying on Liz Steel's Sketching Now online course. Stretched over 12 weeks, Liz has covered all the foundations of successful sketching in well-thought out lessons presented in Liz's charming and exuberant fashion. Each week, there has been an indoor and outdoor prompt. I have missed one week entirely (week 9), only managed 2 of the outdoor prompts, but have managed the majority of the indoor ones. 

Despite being a regular urban sketcher, during the last few months of 2014 I had felt lost. However, having worked through this course, on the 11th January I wrote alongside my coursework:

I LOVE DETAILING LIKE THIS!!!... Using class to remember who I am.

 In the first lesson we had to draw our current sketching kit, which is something I've not done before. My Super5 pen has since run out of ink and I've replaced the Super5 Atlantic ink with Noodler's blueblack. I prefer the Atlantic, but can't get it here in UK and the postage is too high from Germany.

My biggest struggle has been with doing set up lines. When sketching, I normally work directly in ink and sometimes use dots as a guide to key points of a sketch. I can see the value of doing a minimal set up for complex scenes, but, I struggle to observe properly in pencil. Is it because I can change it? I struggled with that throughout the course. Right is an example from week 4.

Liz's course was very comprehensive, and I'd thoroughly recommend doing one if you have the chance. It was good to be reminded of some of the basics, and to try out the exercises. shh don't tell Liz but I frequently got halfway through some exercises and had totally forgotten what I was "supposed"  to be doing. I aslo frequently missed off adding the colour.

One of my favourite exercises and results was looking at shapes. I finally drew my Korean teacup that I bought in 2001 and has been in storage until now. It was supposed to be in 2 colours but I loved the shapes as it was, which is half the fun of experimenting within a class situation.

Finally, here's an outside sketch for week 10 that is not of a subject that I would normally choose, but captures a snapshot of dad's garden in winter. If you want to see my other sketches for this course, they are all in an album on flickr: Sketching Now coursework 

The high panel fence between myself & the neighbours with little foilage due to the winter.

Lessons learnt

A selection of the great work produced by the guys.

How quickly time goes, it seems like only yesterday I was nervously heading to tutor my first class in Sanctus and now the course is over. 

The feedback I got from the class has been good as was the attendance, but as a tutor there are things I would do differently, if I got another opportunity like this. On their side, there has been improvements made in the artwork and they all seemed surprised and pleased with the quality in the collection of printed cards (above).

Sketching Fun at Sanctus 2014

We covered a range of topics ending up with Christmas cards so that the charity could sell the originals or prints on ebay. Mostly I concentrated on observational drawing/painting with them and one of the best classes, I think, was when I got the guys working in 2 groups to reproduce the street in charcoal. It was good to see them all collaborating on the piece, although a couple were keener than others and so did more drawing. I had planned a couple of field trips, which got cancelled due to the cold, so resorted to plan Bs such as drawing each other to practice figure drawing instead of people in the high street.

This course has taught me things too. One thing about my teaching is I've realised that after initial demos, my teaching was very reactive, and so I need to spend more time pre-empting possible questions and maybe breaking down classes to include mini-demos. 

Half of the group & I on the last day (a little fuzzy)

However, the biggest lesson learnt is that the majority of this social group are really nice people. Frequently, I heard that they have ended up in this situation due to the loss of work or the breakup of  their relationships. Yes, some of them drink, but as a way to stop thinking, to forget, but then some of them don't, just like in other sectors of society. Some have forgotten or lost the art of social interaction with the normal filters on conversation not being applied, whilst others warn them to watch their language or what they are saying. There was no reason to be nervous before interacting with the group and I hope that when I see someone on the street my reaction will have changed. Previously I have dropped a few coins, bought a copy of The Big Issue, or scuttled past. In future, I plan to take the time to say hello and offer a coffee or something and I hope you will too.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

Sue

Jimmy

Jimmy drawing. Pencil in moleskin sketchbook.

On a cold, grey, drizzly Thursday, Jimmy had his lunch at Sanctus then sat in my art class. Jimmy was refered to by the others as being a "Diddycoy", which is an old, often derogatory term, for someone who's parentage is not full gypsy. He is a lovely, cheerful, uneducated, old man speaking a dialect that I only understood one in three words. I gave him some paper and a pencil and he drew me drawings of the wagons (horse drawn carts and gypsy caravans) his dad used to make. He's had a hard life, if I understood half of the stories he told, and it is compounded now by his love of drink (he was sober) and health problems. He is very trusting, asking me to check his perscriptions for him, and loves talking. I don't know if I'm allowed to have him sit in with us, but I hope he comes back at least to stay out of the cold.

A proud man with his drawing. Photo taken/used with his permission.

 You can help people like Jimmy get a meal by donating to Sanctus here: sanctus-home.com

Down but not out

Dave. Pencil in moleskin.

 I have been taken on as an art tutor for the charity WEA (wea.org.uk). My first course started on Thursday and I'm working at the charity Sanctus (sanctus-home.com) in their cafe. All the participants are  homeless, destitute or have fallen on hard times. As Sanctus say, "We are not here to judge, but to help and act as a resource for the community" and my course is both a gentle way into education and also, hopefully, aids the participants' health and wellbeing (confidence building, social engagement etc).

From Class 1: working on contour portraits.

On Thursday, I have to confess, apart from nerves of running a new course for a new employer AND it was the first time the WEA and Sanctus have worked together, I was nervous as I have only interacted with this community in a limited way (buying The Big Issue) and stereotypes were running around my head. After just 2 sessions, I am so pleased the stereotypes are wrong. I feel I am learning more than the guys.

Sweep joins the 2nd class.

There's not much time to draw when you are the class tutor, but above top is a incomplete sketch of Dave, who's very sweet and also a good drawer.